2

Abercrombie's Naked Ambition

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) has never shied away from titillation, pushing its fashion sense on young shoppers with attractive, barely dressed models in slick catalogs. Now the trendy apparel retailer has a reason to undress; it's rolling out a line of lingerie stores.

Gilly Hicks is the company's new concept. Hitting up the GillyHicks.com website is enough to let you know that A&F will relish its role pitching undies.

"Are you old enough?" asks the site's landing page. "Our site shows a lot of skin. Therefore, you must be at least 18 years old to enter this site."

An age verification screen later -- following the same easily defeated mold of beer sites (if only club bouncers were that easy in my youth!) -- A&F delivers on its fleshy promise. An introductory video clip features buffed coeds in various stages of undress, frolicking on the beach.

The site also lists five stateside locations where the racy concept will debut later this year.

The only worry here may come from Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) . The parent of Victoria's Secret now has a hip rival looking to siphon off some of its younger shoppers. It's no a coincidence that Victoria's Secret is bankrolling a Super Bowl ad next month -- the first time that the chain has paid for one of those pricey ads since 1999.

Whether it's American Eagle Outfitters (Nasdaq: AEO) rolling out aerie as a stand-alone concept for nightwear and casual underwear, or lululemon athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) wooing fit soccer moms with all-inclusive yoga apparel, dressing down is starting to pay off for retailers. Anyone hoping for a catfight will surely be disappointed, but the competition is definitely heating up.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz enjoys the mall -- even the food court. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool's disclosure policy keeps its undies to itself.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Sending report...

Rick has been writing for Motley Fool since 1995 where he's a Consumer and Tech Stocks Specialist. Yes, that's a long time. He's been an analyst for Motley Fool Rule Breakers and a portfolio lead analyst for Motley Fool Supernova since each newsletter service's inception. He earned his BBA and MBA from the University of Miami, and he now lives a block from his alma mater.
Follow @market